Overcasts, 2023
(text, sound, and light installation/composition and live performance debuted at the California Institute of the Arts, Los Angeles California, April 2023)
Please follow the instructions and read along with the text provided here.
Overcasts is an intermedia performance that combines field recording, prose, tape music, and live electronics. Characters in a play of sound and text conflict with isolation and comorbid conditions. This piece shifts through modes of attention and awareness, addressing interpersonal perception.
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Live electronics performed by Lula Asplund
Recorded trombone performed by Alex Kent
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Overcasts Instructions:
Please sit and read the first section of the story that has been placed on your seat using the provided flashlight. Your experience of reading is a prominent component of the piece. Take your time with it, read as if you were at home in bed with a novel.
When you are finished reading the section, point the flashlight towards the ceiling and hold it in that position until you see the light in front of the performer change color. You may be holding the flashlight upwards for some time–you may rest the flashlight against something or hold it between your legs, just make sure that the beam is pointing visibly upwards.
When the light changes color, point the flashlight down and read the next section of the story–story sections will be clearly marked and this process will repeat.
When a second lamp is illuminated on stage turn your flashlight off when finished reading.
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Written, recorded, composed, and performed by Kyle Bates
Accompanying prose available as part of a paperback book collection of writing here